Ann Carr (10 page)

“Wait!” now it was Duncan’s turn to plead, the red haze of desire taking over his senses completely. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice was shouting to slow things down, but he was too far gone to listen. Quickly, without thinking, he pushed all the way inside of her, her startled gasp beneath him momentarily brought him back to his senses, and he looked down to see the tears shimmering in her eyes. Resting his forehead into the mattress beside Elizabeth’s head he
willed himself to be still, to wait.

As a teardrop rolled out of the corner of Elizabeth’s eye, already the pain was beginning to recede. When he had taken her completely, she had felt as though her insides were being ripped apart. That feeling hadn’t lasted long, and as it receded a deep disappointment began to take its place. The feelings she had experienced had promised so much, they had built up and built up and then....nothing.

“Is that it?” she asked, not able to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

Painfully, Duncan let out a half chuckle, and raised his head to look down at her. “Did I hurt
ye sweetheart?”

Nodding her reply, Elizabeth was aware of the pained expression on his face, “Did I hurt you Duncan?”

Laughing he lowered his forehead down to rest on hers, “God no! Are ye still in pain sweetheart?”

“No” she whispered.

Grinning in relief, Duncan tenderly kissed her lips. And then he moved. He caught her surprised gasp in his mouth, and let the natural rhythms of his body drive him. He held on to a small part of his composure until he heard her deeply breathed sighs of climax, before he let go to chase his own.

Enveloped in the delicious feeling of being thoroughly loved, Elizabeth wrapped her arms tightly around the man who had collapsed on top of her. As he made to move she tightened her hold and his rumbling chuckle was her reward.

“I’ve got to move sweetheart, I’m crushing ye”

“No, I don’t ever want us to move again!” she sighed contentedly. She was happy and never wanted this moment to end. What had just happened between them was more than she could have ever dreamed of.

Rolling onto his back, Duncan took Elizabeth with him so that she was now lying on top of him, God but she was so tiny he thought,
savouring the feel of her nestling into his chest. He closed his eyes, as content just to lie there as she was.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had held a woman in his arms this way; he couldn’t remember the last time he had wanted to.

He’d slept with many women over the years since his first wife had died, had enjoyed their company in his bed, craved the release they had afforded his body, but they hadn’t been any emotional connection with them. He had always left them as soon as he had taken his pleasure and allowed them to take their pleasure with him. He had never remained with them to savour this warm afterglow he was experiencing now. None of them had pulled on his senses or made him crave anything more, until now.

Slowly his eyes closed and he began to drift into sleep, happy to eventually have his wife in his arms. A smile touched his lips as he felt her body move slightly on top of him and his body started to tingle with awareness. If he wasn’t so exhausted he would have taken her again then and there, but his body would not cooperate, and in the next instant he was sleeping.

“Duncan?” Elizabeth whispered into the silence, unable to keep quiet any longer.

When he gave no reply, Elizabeth bit her lip, holding her
breath; she braced her arms on his chest and raised her head so that she could see his face. What she saw caused her heart to melt, for he was fast asleep.

Feeling too energized to lie still any longer, Elizabeth carefully rolled off his chest. Looking down at him she tried to
memorise his slumbering image, then she bent down to give him a quick kiss before going to find some clothes.

Elizabeth’s cheeks burned as she took in the scene before her, there was a trail of water leading from the bathtub to the bed where Duncan had carried her, his clothes were pooled on the
floor beside the tub where he had dropped them, they were now drenched wet having soaked up some of the water puddled around the tub. Quickly looking away, she walked to the wooded chest which housed her clothes and proceeded to dress herself. Before she left the room she took the time to gaze again at the man lying amongst the crumpled sheets on the large four posted bed. Her husband! She though with wonder. She’s always thought the bed huge, but with him lying stretched out on top of it, it didn’t seem so huge, he covered the space easily and the bed seemed to shrink around him. Everything seemed to shrink around him, so that he was the only thing that she noticed in the room.

Unable to hide the grin on her face she left before temptation took over and she woke him up. As much as she wanted to be with him, she knew that he was exhausted and that he needed his sleep. With any luck she'd be back before he awoke, she thought with a tingle of anticipation.

Chapter eighteen

Rolling over, Duncan woke feeling better rested than he had in a long time. Grinning with the anticipation of letting Elizabeth help him to properly wake up, he reached out his arm across the wide span of the bed, luxuriating in the pleasure of lying between soft cool sheets, on a comfortable mattress, with a beautiful warm woman beside him. Duncan’s body felt more relaxed than it had in a very long time.

As he sank into the mattress where he rolled, he
savoured this rare occasion when there was no need for his body to be on high alert. He was lying on his own bed, in his own room, inside of his own castle, within the village walls and had countless guards protecting him and his people. Surely he could afford to lower his guard slightly and enjoy some time with his new wife.       

Feeling slightly annoyed that his hand hadn’t made contact with any warm female flesh, and assuming Elizabeth had rolled away from him as she slept, Duncan opened his eyes and raised himself up onto his elbows, an admonishing comment on his tongue that she hadn’t slept in his arms.

All comments froze before they reached his lips; in fact, all thoughts seemed to flee his mind as he grappled to try to take in the scene before him. Or rather to take in what was missing from the scene before him. For there, amongst the rumpled pile of sheets and blankets lying on the bed next to him was.... was....nothing! She wasn’t there!

A million different thoughts all seemed to descend onto him at that moment! His body leapt from the bed as if of its own accord. Within a second he had his sword in his hand and in the next instant it was raised above his head ready to ward off any attack that came his way.

Quickly spinning around, Duncan took in the whole room, when he found no one there he rotated again, expecting someone to jump out at him from behind the furniture. When nothing happened, he ran to the door, yanking it open with one hand, the other still gripped tightly around his sword.

He ran down the hallway and sharply turned the corner, running straight into
Mrs MacTavish and knocking her onto her backside in the process. Cursing loudly, Duncan bent down to pick her up and set her back onto her feet, he didn’t have time for this! He had no idea for how long he’d slept, no idea how long Elizabeth had been gone, who her captors were or where they might have taken her.

Without giving an explanation or apology Duncan took off, but before he reached the staircase he thought to ask, “Have
ye seen Elizabeth?” hurriedly over his shoulder and was completely taken aback by the “why, aye!” response that came from behind him. Skidding to a stop he turned and began walking back to Mrs MacTavish, eager to hear what she had to say. When nothing more was said, he prompted, “Well?”

“I
ah.....I.....” Having no patience for babbling females, and not noticing that Mrs MacTavish was positively beetroot red in the face, he took her shoulder in one hand and gave it a not so gentle shake. “Come on woman! I dinnae have all day! When did ye see her?”

“Perhaps Lord Duncan ye could put some clothes on first before I answer?” If he had been in a better mood, Duncan would have laughed out loud at the look on poor
Mrs MacTavish face. What a sight he must be presenting, running through the hallways, bared to the world, clutching his sword in his hand. But he wasn’t in a better mood; in fact he was positively panicked that something awful might have happened to his wife. Again lacking patience, he shook her, hoping she would quickly regain her common sense and tell him all she knew.

“OK! Ok!” she tugged her shoulder out of his harsh grip, “Elizabeth passed me in this very hallway not an hour ago. She said...”

“Was there anyone with her?” he inserted, needing all the pertinent facts and not wanting her to ramble off topic.

“No”, shaking her head,
Mrs MacTavish was slightly taken aback by the question, who had he expected to be with her? “She was heading for the stables, she said ......” before she could finish her sentence, Duncan went streaking back down the hallway towards his bedroom, hopefully to put some clothes on, she thought, the sight of his powerful body naked as it had been did nothing for an old woman’s heart!

Walking away
Mrs MacTavish went back to her duties, but she couldn't help feeling that she should have been more insistent in passing on the message Elizabeth had asked her to give Lord Duncan. Her conscience haltered her steps, she really should go back and try to tell him again, make him listen. However, she knew her master well enough to know that he would be doing no listening to anyone now. For when he had marched off, it hadn't been concern in his dark eyes, it had been anger, and she could see that he wanted to commit sheer bloody murder. Shuddering at the very thought of getting in his way, and not liking this cowardly aspect of her nature, Mrs MacTavish walked away.

Chapter Nineteen

Everyone in his path quickly scrambled out of his way as Duncan marched towards the stables. He almost took some pleasure in seeing the reaction of the men to his presence, but not quite enough to penetrate the icy anger that now engulfed his body. He rejoiced in his anger, pulled it around him like a blanket, for anger was an emotion that he understood, that he could use effectively to his benefit.

He didn’t want to remember the sheer terror that had passed through his heart when he had thought that Elizabeth had been taken. It had almost turned him immobile, every limb in his body had been quivering in reaction, and it was only when his primal survival instincts had taken over that he had finally began to function, to react to the potential danger of the situation.

Ashamed of his own reaction or lack thereof, he wanted only to forget it, for no woman had ever had so much power over him, he had quickly come to realize that she was his weakness. Duncan Campbell, the fierce warrior, now had two weaknesses in his life and he didn’t like it one bit!

Stepping into the stables, the cloud around him became darker as he immediately took in the presence of Colin and John down the other end of the dim walkway, preparing to mount their horses. Any hope of them going on their way before they noticed him was quickly dashed as John turned and spotting him, shouted out a greeting, which drew Colin’s attention also.

Groaning, Duncan continued walking towards them, shouting out orders to saddle up Shadow to the stablemen hiding in the shadows. When he heard no movement around him Duncan shouted louder, throwing a few dark threats in for good measure. He was satisfied with the results as he quickly heard men scurrying around to do his bidding, probably running to go and fetch old William from the little room behind the stables where he lived.

“
Ye’d best be careful Duncan, or ye might kill the men with fright!”  John guffawed, Colin merely turned away, obviously not in the mood for small talk either.

“If they
dinnae hurry up and saddle Shadow then I’ll kill them with my bloody hands!” he snapped back, loud enough for his voice to echo through the stable for everyone to hear. A couple of loud crashes behind him had John laughing again, which did nothing to improve Duncan’s own humour.

“Quit
yer laughing John, no one wants to hear it!” Colin snapped before jumping up onto his horse, which in turn jumped at the unexpected weight on his back before quickly walking out of the building.

“Well! I know what his problem is!” John declared eagerly, “He went looking for Noreen earlier, and he ....”

“I dinnae want to hear it!” Duncan snapped, walking past John to where a young stableman was having trouble getting near his horse.

Having no patience to stand around waiting, Duncan pushed the boy, who he didn’t
recognise, roughly out of the way before doing the job himself with smooth efficiency.

John had been too busy gloating over Colin’s broken heart to notice Duncan’s black mood. Now watching him saddle up Shadow with the same intensity he used when he was about to go into battle, even John knew better than to provoke the devil in his friend. However, he couldn’t help but wonder what had caused this total change of mood. The last time he’d seen Duncan was not long after they had arrived home, Duncan had been inspecting the village with his young
laddie, wearing a grin as big as he’d ever seen on his friends face. After witnessing that kiss between him and Elizabeth, John had been left in no doubt about the origin of that grin or about where Duncan had hurried off to after he’d finished walking through the village. John had only wondered why it had taken him so long to get back to her!

Now he couldn’t imagine what could have changed Duncan’s mood so drastically. The only answer he could think of was that it had something to do with his new wife. Interested now, John stepped forward, he couldn’t remember a time when he had seen Duncan react so visibly to a woman before. As far as he was aware, Duncan hadn’t formed any attachment to a woman since his first wife had died. Perhaps this was a good sign, he thought, he didn’t know what had happened between them, but surely anger was better that no feelings at all!

About to leave and catch up with Colin, John started to turn away when William approached.

“Which way did she go?” Duncan demanded, not bothering to turn away from his task.

“Who? My Lord” William questioned in return, turning a quick smile towards John.

“
Dinnae start that old man! Ye know who I’m talking about!” Now Duncan did turn around, taking a step towards the two men watching his every move. “I dinnae have time for any of yer games!”

“She went that way,” William pointed in the general direction that Elizabeth had taken only a short while earlier. “She said she was riding to the forest
and ...” Before he could finish, Duncan had swung himself up onto Shadow’s back and then in the next instant was nothing more than a blur of movement.

The two men turned to look at each other, without needing to exchange a word they both burst into bellows of laughter.